Despite the advances in surgical approach and chemotherapy, the 5 year survival of ovarian cancer has barely changed in the last 40 years Immune pressure against ovarian cancer progression is elicited by tumor infiltrating T cells. Despite the devastating course of ovarian cancer, T cells can spontaneously exert clinically relevant pressure against malignant progression, to the point that the pattern and the intensity of T cell infiltration can predict the patient's outcome. Ovarian cancers are therefore immunogenic and optimal targets for the design of novel immunotherapies.
Over the last years, immunotherapy has emerged as a promising tool in the treatment of cancer. For example, Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) therapy has shown excellent results in the treatment of chemotherapy resistant hematologic malignancies. However, the paucity of specific antigens expressed on the surface of tumor cells that are not shared with healthy tissues, has so far prevented the success of this technology against most solid tumors, including ovarian cancer. There is considerable difficulty in finding specific antigens in tumor cells which are not present in normal tissues and elicit intolerable side effects. Additionally, the immunosuppressive effect of the tumor microenvironment of solid tumors heavily impairs antitumor T cell responses